What unusual things do you take camping?

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

We are a family of 5 (kids are 9-15) and proficient campers and enjoy going as part of a larger group.

Everything goes very well but I’m always looking to improve the experience, space save and make things easier.

We don’t have electricity hook up and enjoy cooking at the site as opposed to eating out. The kids are helping and generally we share larger things with the other families.

What unusual things do you take that work?

Not unusual as such, but one of my little luxuries is a couple of those Rombouts individual coffee filters, so I can have a proper coffee in the morning.

Following the thread for some more interesting tips!

Oooh that’s a good one except I don’t drink coffee.

I will be taking a proper mug this year, the camping mugs we have just don’t taste the same.

I’m also going to take a hot water bottle, can’t believe that never occurred to me although I’m not sure if I’ll be bothered to boil the kettle before bed.

If you don't already have one get a Kubb game. Addictive for all ages!

Just looked up the Kubb game, looks good. Does it take up much space? Our (big) car is usually pretty crammed.

Gaffer tape - good as an emergancy patch and will usually hold a broken tent pole.
Scissors

As we go electric i take my slow cooker

Gaffer tape is essential.

Door mat.

Dustpan and brush

What unusual things do you take that work. DH is pretty unusual...

I take one of those clothes organiser things that you hang in the wardrobe. Lay it on the floor in the tent and everyone has somewhere to shove their clothes (you can cram quite a lot into each space)

Door Mat and hanging clothes storage look good. We have gaffer tape and dustpan and brush

pegs. lots of pegs. it's amazing what you can do with pegs, holding things in place, closing packets, hanging up towels, even hanging out washing! Similarly cling film, can tie things up with it, protect things, cover surfaces, tie up children... and of course cover food.

Where do you peg your towels and washing up? We usually just hang towels over the back of a chair in the sun but interested in other solutions.

We peg towels on the guy ropes

We used to take the cat. A few people thought that was unusual.

You win! That’s very unusual.

I always take a bone china mug and wine glasses.

I take the cafetière, I don't think it's unusual, it's essential to make up for insufficient sleep. Otherwise it's credit cards for us as we do eat out. I'm not a particularly keen can you tell?

Magazines for the children. They are handed out when we arrive at our pitch and they stay in their seats until we've set up camp. (they are both under 5 so not handy helpers yet!). Moka pot for morning, filled before bedtime so I can bang it straight on when the children wake me up.

I have a stretchy washing line thing which gets attached to the roof rack of the car. Wetsuits have special hangers with karabiners and get clipped on the other side.

For the hot water bottle issue, I always take a flask - this holds boiling water for my second cup of coffee in the morning, or water to do a hottie later.

My fave thing we take are dry robes - I bought one originally as I wild swim and needed something to change under in car parks or whatever. Brilliant for chucking on to go to the loo in the night, and we just wear them to the shower block and back. Also for their actual purpose of going from lake to showers, and they are a lovely warm over layer when sitting out at night

We have a camping toilet. No traipsing to loos during the night.
Each person gets a stackable plastic box for all their stuff (clothes, toiletries, books etc) we stack them as a makeshift drinks table, everyone can see their stuff at a glance, and if it buckets rain, they'll stay dry.
Cushions from our patio chairs make handy extra seating on floor.
I have brought a clothes horse for hanging wet jackets on, but it depends on the space we have.
Loads of solar fairy lights - helps us find tent 😂
2 single airbeds with a kingsize fitted sheet holding them side-by-side - we used to keep waking each other if one moved around too much and airbed bounced.
Looking forward to some trips this year!

With regards Kubb box is about 25 x 30 cm but can go in a footwell under kids feet.
We got ours from Lidl Aisle of Dreams for about £10

Hamman towels save quite a bit of space and dry quickly.

A hammock can be a good product.

If you ever switch to EHU (or for those that use it), we like the clip on lights you can get from ikea- can be used on the back of a chair, tent pole etc and don't take up too much space.

Take a pack of envelopes. You can then devise and lay a trail for the kids to follow with clues. Buys you at least 90 mins of chill out time.

Most other quirky stuff I take takes up more (and probably unnecessary space!) such as teapot, vase of flowers etc.

One of the things the kids we camp with love (and spend a huge amount of time playing with even though most are teens now) are the thin glow sticks that have connectors so you can make things out of them. All sorts of things get made, they play tag in the dark with them, and lay them out in patterns - other kids on the campsite loved seeing what they'd made. We use them overnight to mark things like the dogs tie out stakes and anything else people might trip over.

i take a washing line to hang my towels on....goes from car to tree or bush or....something. Like the idea of the dry robes.

We have microfibre towels, dry really fast. Feel funny to use but you get used to them

The hot tap in the toilet block is usually warm enough to make a hot water bottle for an easy option late at night.